AI – protecting both children and law enforcement

Transforming child protection with AI.

The week-long event, focused on child protection, united twenty participants with one mission: to disrupt and reduce the harm caused by child sexual exploitation. This effort highlights Childhood’s commitment to investing in scalable technology solutions to protect children. “We must use the full potential of technology to protect children”says HRH Princess Madeleine after visiting the INTERPOL DevOps event. “What this group has achieved by working together in just one week shows how quickly we can make progress when we commit – and we must.“

(Available in Swedish here: https://childhood.se/nyheter/ai-kan-skydda-bade-barn-och-polis/)

INTERPOL DevOps aims to develop scalable technical solutions to support law enforcement agencies in investigating and preventing online child sexual exploitation and abuse (OCSEA).

Police must spend countless hours reviewing and describing child sexual abuse material in painstaking detail, frame by frame – a process that is not only time-consuming but also puts enormous strain on the mental health of investigators. At the heart of this particular collaboration is a project that aims to reduce toxic exposure to CSAM while streamlining the research process so that researchers can spend more time searching for unidentified children than documenting their abuse.

Early studies show promising results of improved processing efficiency and reduced exposure to CSAM. This frees up crucial resources, allowing law enforcement agencies to more quickly focus on identifying victims and perpetrators.

Christian Wallfors, case officer at the Swedish Police, commented: “This project has enormous potential, especially in protecting the mental health of researchers by reducing their exposure to disturbing material. AI can help alleviate this burden, allowing researchers to focus more on prevention and identification of victims ”

The initiative’s objectives, including cross-border collaboration and the ability to work in multiple languages, underline its potential global impact. Jonas Seider from the Australian Federal Police added: “This week has shown what is possible when law enforcement, technology and child safety organizations come together. We have built something that will now really make a difference.”

The following organizations participated in the DevOps event in Stockholm between September 16 and 20: World Childhood Foundation, Global Emancipation Network, Magnet Forensics, Forensik.IT, NCMEC, Aylo, Google, ACCCE (Australian Center to Counter Child Exploitation), Noord -Florida ICAC, Web-IQ and Child Rescue Coalition.

Childhood remains committed to supporting innovative technology solutions to protect children. This event was made possible by funding from Stella Polaris, Childhood’s hub that unites children’s rights and AI to coordinate and intensify AI-related initiatives to combat child sexual abuse. Childhood’s Stella Polaris project is funded by the Swedish Postcode Lottery.

Available in Swedish here: https://childhood.se/nyheter/ai-kan-skydda-bade-barn-och-polis/